1975
Family Leisure Centers, Inc. purchased Carowinds for 16 million dollars. The Happy Land of Hanna-Barbera(now Planet Snoopy) opened in 1975, complete with children's rides and Scooby-Doo, a family-friendly wooden roller coaster. Also the Wagon Wheel and Waltzer rides were added. Footers were popping on along side the Carowinds & Carolina Railroad near the Stagecoach.

1976
Thunder Road, a massive racing wooden roller coaster. The movie "Thunder Road" depicted moonshining in the mountains of the Carolinas. The original trains for Thunder Road were brought from Riverside Park in Chicago,IL. The trains were discarded later to increase the capacity, attendance finally starts to head back to the million mark but does not hit it.

1977
White Lightnin',the world's first launched roller coaster reaching speeds of 58 MPH, White Lightnin' blasted you into a loop and up a 137 foot spike. White Lightnin was and still is the park's tallest roller coaster, but was removed in 1988 for RipTide Reef.

1978
Thunder Road got new trains, A second gate was added between Thunder Road and Hanna-Barbera Land. The Surfer was removed in 1977, and the Black Widow took the place of Surfer.

1979
The County Fair area makes it's debut with Wild Bull(Bayern-kurve), Whirling Dervish(Wave Swinger), Dodgems(Bumper Cars), and Meteorite(Enterprise). Thunder Road became the centerpiece of the new area.

1980
A cyclone rips into Carowinds featuring four inversions, and a helix finale. The Carolina Cyclone opens as the world's first four loop roller coaster. Also, new this season was Kiddy Skytower(removed in 2002), and Kiddy Enterprise(removed 1986).

1982
Carowinds gets ready to soak it's guests even more with Rip Roaring Rapids, a five acre water ride located next to the Paladium(1975). The Ocean Island Wavepool opened next to White Lightnin', it operates separately from Carowinds and costs extra for Carowinds guests.

1983
Winterfest happened for the first time, during Winterfest the Skytower is made to look like a giant christmas tree. Sadly, Winterfest did not return in 1984.